


Endings

by NotWritingSavvy



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Spoilers - Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-05 04:16:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5361083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotWritingSavvy/pseuds/NotWritingSavvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk has learned a lot of things since they fell underground, but they still have some uncertainties. It's okay though.<br/>Two connected one-shots taking place after the Barrier was shattered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Endings and a New Beginning

When Asriel broke the Barrier you didn’t think about what would come next, only that he looked like he really needed a hug and that you also really wanted to give him a hug. After the two you had parted, you found your friends and simply enjoyed being in their presence as they marvelled over the fact that they were free at last. When asked about how the Barrier broke, you just said that the other human souls helped you and left it at that.

The other monsters didn’t notice at first, but Alphys and Mettaton took care of that, putting together a special feature that told of how the Barrier had been shattered and how they would soon be able to leave the Underground and see the sky that many had only dreamt of.

It took two days for the monsters who wished to leave to be ready. Several stayed behind- Gyftrot was content to haunt their underground forests in peace and Muffet had remarked on the dangers of opening a business in new territory. Despite the amount of monsters wishing to stay in the Underground, there are still hundreds following Toriel and Asgore on the rocky and kinda weird-smelling path to freedom. Sans, Papyrus, and yourself were in the back, making sure that no monster was straggling.

You fight to keep Papyrus’ fast pace, alternating between walking and jogging to keep up with his long strides. You trip on a vine, but he helps you up. “When I get to the surface, I’ll be the first one to say hello to a human! They’ll be so in awe of my charms, they’ll have to like me and all of the other monsters!” He seems very sure of what he is saying. You believe him and steadily ignore how Sans is walking far too slowly to be ahead of you but still somehow is.

A breeze gradually starts to blow as the long line of monsters and one human child trek up the long, steep hill to the Aboveground. Its refreshing coolness fills you with determination as you pause for a second to wipe your sweaty forehead. Papyrus pauses as well to look at you, but you make a thumbs-up and the two of you continue on.

"Sans! You seen even more distracted than usual," Papyrus says. Sans doesn't even turn around and he frowns, "Aren't you happy about leaving the Underground?"

Sans still doesn't respond, and you quietly point out to Papyrus that he may be unable to hear him. Papyrus nods in agreement and picks you up so that you could sit on his shoulders. "You look tired, human!" is his only explanation. Your feet are sore, so you're fine with his actions. You make yourself comfortable and sway with Papyrus' motions as he continues regaling you with tales of his soon-to-be fame and the hundreds of new friends he will make when he arrives at the surface.

Papyrus comes to a halt at a crowd of monsters milling about. From your vantage point, you can see the reason why: the path has abruptly narrowed and steepened, to the point where only one human-size monster can safely climb up. But from there, the hole stopped and a blue sky began. You were almost there. A member of the Royal Guard approaches the two of you (you vaguely remember setting him up with his partner) and tells Papyrus that you and Sans will be fine without his guidance and that he should be helping the other monsters and passing out supplies. You can sense Papyrus’ reluctance to leave you in a slight movement of his shoulders and decide to clamber down clumsily yourself instead of making him decide.

"Are you certain that you will be able to handle yourself?" Papyrus asks.

You reassure him that you will, in fact, be fine with a smile and a thumbs-up. He smiles back at you before leaving with the Royal Guard. You don't really mind that he left you, as you can't really be alone in a crowd of the monsters that you consider to be your friends- and some your family. You look for Sans, but he is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he's taking a nap? You decide not to bother him and notice Napstablook hanging back, away from all of the other monsters. You wave to them and they blink, raising a stubby arm in response. They don't seem to want to intrude, but you don't have anything else to do and bounce over to them.

"Oh... hello..." they say quietly. You wave again at them enthusiastically and they blink at you slowly. Napstablook is listening to something and you ask them what they're listening to.

"It's one of my cousin's songs," they say, "Do you want to listen to it? It's very happy". You nod and they pass over their blue headphones. It's Mettaton, and he sounds very happy as he sings about parties and glamour. It’s worryingly catchy and you pass it back to Napstablook before its chorus could get stuck in your head.

They ask you if you liked it and you nod. Their smile grows. "Oh, it's one of Mettaton's favorites. He gave me a signed copy of it last week and then we talked about you- but don't worry I was just telling him about how nice you were- and then he asked me how my music was going and I said that it was going okay and he asked me about- oh, I'm sorry, I'm talking too much aren't I... I'm sorry," Napstablook’s voice peters off. You try to tell them that you were enjoying their company but you couldn't get the words out fast enough and they vanish. You tell the empty air that you enjoyed talking with them and would like to do it again sometime before leaving.

The crowd of monsters has thinned out some and you can no longer see Toriel or Asgore. You vaguely wonder if Sans had woken up from his nap yet. After a quick glance through the crowd, you shake your head. Not yet, but maybe he’d be up soon and give you some of the chips that you know he has in his jacket’s pockets. Another glance, and the Monster Kid meets your gaze. They grin and race towards you, tripping at your feet. From their point on the ground they smile goofily at you and roll both into their feet and into an excited rant about everything and anything they could think of. This was the third time you had been talked to so much today. It must be the anticipation.

You ask them why they hadn't climbed up yet.

"I wanna see Undyne climb up, yo! She said that she was gonna use only her hands and not even take the path," the Monster Kid's tail was twitching at the tip and they were hopping from foot to foot. "Yo, aren't you excited too? You can go home now!"

You shrug and explain to them that you didn't really want to go home because your parents wouldn’t be happy to see you. You didn't really understand why they got quiet after that, but their staring was kind of unnerving you. Deciding to change the topic, you crack a joke. The Monster Kid laughs and the tension was broken.

“Hey hey, I have one: knock knock!”

You put your thumb to your chin and push your pointer finger up and down. _Who’s there?_

“Ivor”.

You sign out _I-V-O-R_ and wag your index finger from beneath your chin, signing _who?_

“Ivor you start running to the other side of the crowd or I’m going to beat you!”

The Monster Kid starts take off and after a second of hesitation you follow them. They’re faster than you, but you are able to wind through the crowd’s various appendages faster than they could. You skid beneath a dog’s legs and scramble back to your feet just in time to jump over the slimes you met in Snowdin. The Monster Kid is just behind you, and you can hear their panting as you push your way through what seemed to be dinosaurs before you crashed into Alphys. She squeaks and then the Monster Kid slams into you, pushing all three of you down.

The Monster Kid rolls off of the two of you and you stand up. Alphys remains on the ground and you kneel down beside her and ask her what was wrong. She assures you that she was, “T-totally fine!” and that she “Just saw something interesting on the ground.” You decide to take her word for it and pull her up. Once you and the Monster Kid apologize, the two of you run off again, ducking and weaving between what seemed to be all of the monsters in the Underground. You see Burgerpants, the innkeeper from Snowdin, a flash of red hair that was probably Undyne, the Final Froggit, and Vulkin as you race before finally bursting out of the crowd in the front where the mass of monsters thins out into a line. You look around for the Monster Kid, but they aren’t there. So you wait.

The monsters waiting in line ask you if you’re going, but you tell them that you’re waiting for your friend and they pass.

You wait.

And wait.  


Your phone buzzes, and it’s the Monster Kid. They had ran into their parents, and their mother wanted them to stay with her. You text them back, saying that it’s okay and that the two of you could finish your race another time.

While you’re still holding your phone, you text Papyrus.

_*Do you know where Sans is?_

You don’t have to wait more than a few seconds for his answer.

_*NO, BUT I’M ON THE SURFACE NOW!! UNDYNE SAID THAT I COULD GO UP BECAUSE I WAS SO EXCITED AND I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD JOIN ME. IT’S VERY NICE._

You do want to go up. You ask the Whimsun waiting in line if they would be okay if you went before them, and they nod meekly. You’re vaguely aware of the fact that they just agreed because they were too nervous, but you decide not to look a gift Whimsun in their mouth.

The member of the Royal Guard in the distance signals that you can start moving forward and so you do.

The path was very steep. But you’re okay with that. You had been doing a lot of walking since you had entered the Underground and you were very excited to see the Surface again. This time, you would even be with your friends! While you walk, your mind wanders and you fantasize about you and your friends living together in one big family. Maybe, someday you would even return and save Asriel. That would be nice, you think. The two of you could be siblings. And of course, Toriel would be your mom.

Your mom.

You hope that she wouldn’t be mad that you were coming back. Your human mom, that is. You frown.

Maybe if you stayed quiet and with Toriel, she wouldn’t know until it would be too late for her to take you back. If she wanted to take you back.

Did she want to take you back? You knew what your father would think. Did you even want to go back? A commotion behind you rouses you from your thoughts. Undyne was swinging from the top of the cave, shouting something. You stare at her, but she doesn’t seem to notice. You’re momentarily concerned before you remember that the Monster Kid had said something about Undyne not using the path when she went up. You wonder if she could see you, completely distracting yourself from thoughts about your parents and the future. You don’t think that she can, but you give her a thumbs-up anyways and walk just a bit faster so that she doesn’t completely outpace you.

The wind had strengthened enough to lift your hair, and you laugh. A few feet off to your left, there was a small stream of water, and in front of the stream-!

You walk forward and extend your hand into the beam of sunlight. The rays are warm and ever-so-slightly heavy on your hand and you think that this is the best feeling you’ve ever experienced. You sniffle a little bit and wipe your running nose on your sleeve. It’s absolutely filthy, but then again, so are you.

Your footsteps quicken until you are racing forward. The cave mouth is yawning just in front of you and you can see Papyrus and the sky and you haven’t seen the sky in so long and you are lonely but you’re not lonely and you know that you’ll never feel like this again in your life and that you could just grow wings and fly away and you’re almost there and you leap over the last rock and  
your foot catches and you fall face-first into the ground and slide a little bit before coming to a stop. You dazedly push yourself up and stumble but Papyrus is there so it’s okay.

“Human! Are you okay? Do you require my assistance?” Papyrus winds an arm around your shoulder and supports you as you stand up, “You’re leaking! Were you in a fight? Why would you be leaking?”

You touch a hand to your face and you’re bleeding from your nose. Your eyes are also leaking but it’s not blood and instead from your exuberance just moments ago. You wipe your nose on your sleeve again (gross) and reassure Papyrus that you didn’t get into a fight with anyone. He seems relieved and takes you over to Toriel.

You walk up to her and tug on her sleeve. She turns around with a glare and a snarl, “Asgore, I told you-” she looks down and sees you and immediately she softens. “My child! Who did this to you?”

Just like you had with Papyrus, you tell her that nobody had hurt you. Toriel huffs out a warm breath and crouches down so that she is at eye-level with you and touches your bleeding nose with a filed claw. A heat that’s almost burning flashes through your nose and you briefly see stars but then the sensation fades and your nose feels as good as new.

You don’t think that you will ever get used to the sensation of Toriel’s healing magic.

“My child, is it not beautiful?” she asks. You look away from her and up at the sky, where the sun is just above the horizon. Your eyes start watering again and Toriel hugs you before telling you that if you wish, you could tag along with her as she checks on the monsters on the Surface again. You nod, and the two of you go from monster to monster and Toriel tells them how the next few weeks will work. She seems to be just as comfortable here as she was in the Ruins, but you aren’t the best judge of body language so you wouldn’t really know.

Your phone buzzes, and you pull it out of your pocket and turn it on. Alphys had posted a photo of Undyne’s scratched-up hands and had captioned it ‘tfw ur bae is too strong to use the path’. You giggled at that and typed out a quick comment back.

“Would you like to share your laugh, my child?” Toriel asked. You hand her your phone and she smiles. You really like it when she or Asgore smiles because it makes you feel safe and at home. She continues her check-ups, answering all of the monsters’ questions with grace. It’s really boring, but you don’t mind.

At one point, Asgore joins the two of you to talk to the younger monsters that had never met Toriel. Even you can’t miss the way that Toriel glares at him, but you bounce back and forth between the King and the former Queen and enjoy the attention they give you. Unfortunately Asgore leaves after a short conversation between him and Toriel that you couldn’t quite hear but he promises to let you try some of his tea before he leaves.

Toriel moves from Shyren to a strange monkey-like creature you talked to in Snowdin to the Monster Kid and their parents to Jerry (Toriel was insistent on making that conversation as short as possible) and then, finally, you were done. Every monster that was willing to talk had been informed about what was going to happen.

Your stomach growls and Toriel pulls a small pie out of the bag she had brought with her. “Do you wish to share this pie with me?” she asks. You nod eagerly. You hadn’t eaten since what seemed like forever. Toriel gently breaks it in half. “One for you,” she places the smaller half into your awaiting hands, “And one for me!” As you had expected, it was delicious.

Toriel talks as the two of you eat before letting out a soft exclamation and pointing to the sky, where the sun was starting to dip below the horizon. You watch for a second before she pulls you to your feet and the two of you half-run half-walk until you arrive at a cliff face. It gives the perfect view, and you call Papyrus to ask if he wants to join you. He eagerly agrees and arrives with Sans, Undyne, Alphys, and Asgore. The seven of you stand in silence and watch the sun slowly fall below the mountains, painting the sky in brilliant hues of golds and yellows. In the distance you see your city and a mountain you once went to with a friend.

The sun is too bright for you to stare at the entire time, so you choose to instead look at your friends. Alphys’ scales are reflecting the sun and for an instant she seems like she has lost all of her fear and doubts. You distantly note that when she stands straight, she’s almost as tall as Papyrus. Undyne and Papyrus are both crying openly, and Toriel and Asgore look as ageless and powerful as you know that they are, the sun’s fire shining on their horns and tusks. Sans looks tired and worn down, but every bit as strong as you can remember from your nightmares as he answers his brother’s questions about the sun.

The chatter amongst your family dies down as Asgore says, “Everyone… this is the beginning of a bright new future. An era of peace between humans and monsters.” He sighs and meets your gaze as you peek out at him behind Toriel. “Frisk. I have something to ask of you. Will you act as our ambassador between us and the humans?”

You beam up at him and nod vigorously. Papyrus declares himself as the mascot and runs off, Sans following him with a half-hearted wave in Toriel and your directions. One by one, the others leave until only Toriel and yourself remain. She offers to let you stay with her and you don’t even hesitate before taking her hand while she leads you down the beaten path. You notice that she is very careful to keep you away from the sides of the cliff and smile to yourself.

 

Since falling into the Underground, you’ve learned a lot of things. You’ve learned that Toriel will be a good mom, and that Asgore will be a good dad. You’ve learned that with patience and kindness, most people can be helped. You’ve also learned that some people take more than that and that some monsters don’t like getting gifts but a lot do and that some flowers will talk back to you and some flowers will just repeat what you’ve said and that the voice in your head wasn’t always just a voice and that monsters aren’t actually monsters but some monsters are monsters and that’s just how they are. Most importantly, and most recently, you’ve think that you’ve learned what to do with your human family. Just like Asriel, you will visit to them eventually. But unlike Asriel, you don’t think that you will be coming home with them in your arms.

You’re okay with that, especially when, two nights later, you wake Sans up and the two of you watch the stars shining and fall asleep, only to wake up in a pile of your new family. You blink sleepily and turn your face into a fluffy white hood, an arm slung across your belly tightening momentarily as its owner mutters something unintelligible. Being here, with an entire life with your friends and family ahead of you, fills you with determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up extending this! I hope to have the next chapter out by the end of December.


	2. The Bag

When you wake again, it’s freezing. You aren't quite used to- or expecting it to be so cold, but it makes sense. None of your doggie-pile-mates produces body heat, and you are nowhere near warm enough to keep the pile at a satisfactory temperature. You huff out a breath and try to flip over so that you can wiggle your way out of the pile and go somewhere warmer.

You appreciate the thought of the doggie-pile, but it is really cold. Maybe if there were actually dogs involved, it would be warmer, but there aren't and it isn't. As you squirm around, trying not to wake anybody up, something disturbing becomes apparent: you’re at the bottom of the pile. This will not do, as it hinders your efforts to get out. In fact, you’re stuck, with someone clinging onto your body.

You can’t even flip over. But, you are determined to succeed and increase your wiggling efforts. Someone sniffs behind you and the arm that was on your belly withdraws, its owner returning it to where it belongs and also conveniently rolling over and freeing your legs. Now was your chance! You carefully scooch yourself down and out of the pile, and the monster that had been on top of you lets out a particularly loud snore as they settle into the space that you had left. You stretch and yawn, feeling your back pop loudly before looking around.

The moon is bright and full, and its light bathes the world in a silvery halo, the monsters and their temporary sanctuaries almost glowing in its reflection. When you had fallen down it had been a half moon, and you had had to take a flashlight with you as you hiked up the mountain. You don’t remember it being with you when you woke up though. Maybe you had put it in your bag before you fell?

Where had you put the bag? You can remember setting it down on the path that you took up the mountain somewhere, but you can’t remember where exactly it had gone. 

You nod to yourself, making up your mind. You’re really tired, but you don’t really feel like going back to sleep so you will get a jacket and find your bag. You take one look back at the pile, and jump slightly when you see two glowing dots staring back at you from the bottom of the the heap of monsters. You wave at Sans, but he doesn’t respond. Slightly unnerved, you go on your way. This way, at least, someone would know that you were leaving. 

As you walk, you shiver and hug yourself, passing by through various tents before you find your mother’s bedroll, your new bag sitting next to her. You tiptoe close to her and rummage around in your bag before you find your jacket. You pull it over your sweater before stealing away. You don’t have to check to make sure that she was still asleep since you have so much experience with not waking other up as you do what you need to do. It’s a well-honed gift.

The wind from the tunnel has died down to nothing more than a slight breeze, and when you tilt your head up and look at the sky, it’s cloudless. You admire the view and gaze at the moon. You’re glad you got out. And with so many new friends too! You nod to yourself and amble off into the forest, humming a tune that you heard in Waterfall to yourself. With your jacket and your sweater on, the cold doesn’t bother you nearly as much and since it’s winter, the trees are just bare enough that you could see where you were going. It wasn’t really any different than Snowdin Forest, except for it wasn’t snowing. You’re grateful for that, because the snow would always get into your shoes and soak your pants all the way through.  
You hop onto a fallen log, and briefly pause in your tune to pretend that you’re performing in front of an adoring audience. You pose with a hand pointing to the sky, and then jump down. Once you receive your due applause and cheers you restart your song. 

The second time on the mountain isn’t nearly as scary as the first time had been. When you had originally climbed the mountain it had been cloudy and wet and not very much fun at all. But now it’s better, even though the farther that you progress into the woods and away from the strangely barren paths, the thicker the underbrush becomes. Blackberry vines scratch at your legs beneath your pants, and suddenly your quest to find your missing bag didn’t seem like such a good idea after all. You try to turn backwards but the vines around your legs tighten and you’re reminded of Flowey. You stick your tongue out at the inconvenience and reach down to untangle your legs. When you are finally free, your turn around and immediately realize that you can’t remember where you came from.

Reaching into your pocket, you pull out your phone and turned it around, using its light to try to see any branches you had just pushed aside. You have no such luck, but that must mean that you’re going the right way! You got lost the last time you came up and it turned out fine then. You had gotten lost many, many times in the Underground and it had always turned out perfectly fine. So why should this be different?

…

Nah, you’re good. And besides, if anything goes wrong, you could just load a save file! No harm, no foul, as your human mother would sometimes say (not to you but you still liked how it sounds). In fact, the whole place is a lot like Hotland because you keep on getting turned around. But like, instead of vent traps and conveyor belts, it’s vines, vines, and more vines. After experimenting and getting scratched multiple times, you discover that the best way to move around in the blackberry thicket is by spinning around and around. It’s not really the best way to stay in a straight path, but you’re way over your earlier fear. This is fun again!

Out of nowhere, you feel the urge to eat some monster food and you comply, taking out a Monster Candy you had taken when Toriel and yourself were leaving the Ruins for the last time. Instantly, you lose the vague sense of dizziness that you hadn’t been paying attention to and feel energized. Far above you, the moon is sinking down behind the barren trees and you bump up the brightness on your phone to compensate for the loss of the moonlight. You continue twirling and spinning and both you and the whispering voice in your mind wish that you still had the tutu. You would have looked really good in it. When you had still been wearing it, you had had vivid dreams of dancing and pirouetting in a shady forest. At the time, the dreams had been so vivid that they felt like a memory.

You stumble out of the blackberries and trip on one last snaring branch. This time you catch yourself though and you lay on the mossy ground and look up at the stars (a rock is poking your back). Your phone vibrates and you turn down the brightness and look at the text message.

Alphys had texted, _*where r u? :0_

_*I’m looking ofor my bag._ You only see your spelling mistake after you had pressed ‘send’, but you’re pretty sure that Alphys would forgive you. Your fingers are numb except for a dull throbbing sensation. You swipe an arm across your dripping nose. Your sleeve hasn’t gotten any cleaner since the last time that you wiped your nose on it, but you don’t really mind.

Alphys takes a few seconds to respond. _*isnt it with toriel?_

Your phone rings quietly with the chorus of a song that you have a sneaking suspicion that Mettaton made. You pick it up.

“Frisk, w-where are you?” Alphys whispers into the phone. She’s clearly trying to not wake anybody up. You don’t really understand why she wants to know, but you still explain to her that you’re looking for your bag.

You hear her sigh. “You’re not with Toriel, are you.” It’s not a question, and you can feel a sinking feeling in your gut. Had you done something wrong? You voice your concerns to her and she gasps before saying, “N-n-no! You’re fine! I was just worried! Do you think that you can, uh, come back?” 

You look around again and back to where you think that you came from. “No.” You say. 

Alphys stutters for a few seconds before saying that she’ll call you later and abruptly hanging up. You take your phone away from your ear and blink at its screen and then shrug. Maybe she’d call back.

You continue on your way, thankful for the lack of blackberries. At one point, you find a river and when you shine your light on its bank, something stares back at you. The animal turns and runs, snapping a branch in its flight. You'd chase it, but you're pretty sure that the river is too wide for you to jump across and something tells you that it's far too cold for you to get wet right now. Maybe in the morning you’d try to cross it, but not tonight.

By this point you’re exhausted, and so you carefully climb up a tree and into a large, thick, bare branch and settle down for the rest of the night. You could finish looking for your bag tomorrow. You shift around for a few moments before coming dangerously close to falling off of the branch. Your hip slides off, and you squeak before hauling yourself back up, hugging the branch with both your arms and staring down at the dimly illuminated ground. You don't move around after that, and the quiet sounds of the night lull you to sleep.

Your phone ringing jolts you awake. You take it out and answer it, sitting up as Toriel's panicked voice asks you something. You couldn't understand what she was saying, so you ask what she said.

"My child! Where are you?" Toriel repeats, breathing heavily.

You raise an eyebrow, even though you know that she can’t see you. You tell her that you still don’t know where you are. Just like you had told Alphys. 

“We’re looking for you, but not even the dogs of the Royal Guard can find you. Please, tell me all that you know about where you are.”

You comply with her plea and describe where you are to her. The trees are tall, and you’re out of the blackberry bushes but they’re still close to you, and you’re up in a tree. Toriel tells you, “Stay put and don’t be afraid, my child. We will be with you shortly,” and hangs up.

You stick your tongue out at the phone, but stay where you are, placing the phone next to your feet. You absolutely don’t want Toriel to be mad at you. You lay back down onto your branch and, yawning, close your eyes again. 

A bird hops on your face and caws. Loudly. You look into one beady eye before it hops back onto your chest and puffs out its feathers. You attempt to pet it like you had the Lesser Dog, but it shrieks and flies off. The sky above you is a light blue, and you’re soaking wet. Your jacket sticks to your sweater, which in turn sticks to you. Shifting your head over to the side, you see that below you, on the ground, two squirrels are fighting over something. You watch them.

Eventually, one of them gets the upper hand (paw?) and the other takes off running, the winner racing after it. Whatever they had been squabbling over is long forgotten, and you giggle to yourself. Your tummy rumbles and you eat some leftover Popato Chisps from Alphys’ creepy lab before you look at your phone. 

Oh.

That’s… a lot of missed calls. 

And texts.

You swipe a finger over your phone before you look at your texts.

Toriel- _*My child, we think that we have found where you are. If that is you, please come down. You are safe. Sincerely, Toriel._

_*I do not remember the Overworld having such large cats in it. Very concerned for your safety, Toriel._

Alphys- _*Frisk, could you please text me from the Undernet? I can track your location from there lol :)_

_*frisk?_

_*.... ill call you later okay_

You don't even open up Papyrus’ texts because you have a feeling that they'll be along the same lines of being concerned for your safety. 

You call Toriel back and she picks up nearly immediately.

“Frisk! Why were you not responding to my calls? I was very worried.”

You tell her that you had fallen asleep and wasn't picking up your phone because you couldn't hear it. Toriel breathes a staticky sigh into the receiver and says, “Are you more able to tell us where you are in the daylight? Papyrus insists that Sans will be able to receive you once he knows your area.”

You look around and tell her about how you're really close to a big tree with pinecones and a river and last night you had passed through a lot of blackberries. You carefully describe the barren maple tree next to your tree and how all of the tree trunks are mossy and how you had seen two squirrels. When you're about to tell Toriel about the animal by the river, she interrupts you. 

“My child, what the,” she stumbles over her words for a second, “heck are you talking about? I do not know what a maple tree or a moss is. Could you tell me what they look like?”

You huff out a frustrated breath. Why didn't she know what you were talking about? You repeat yourself for her in case she hadn't heard and again she cuts you off. You don't know what to do, so you puff out your cheeks. An annoyance that isn't your own bubbles up inside of you and the whispering voice in the back of your head tells you to talk about how there is green lichen covering the rocks and how the tree that you're sitting in right now is one of the ones that is covered in green pins. You dutifully repeat what you had been told (what you had thought?) and Toriel hums before saying, “I think that Sans will be able to find you now. Thank you for your patience,” and hangs up.

Your back kinda hurts, so you climb down the tree. The moss covering its trunk smears green on your palms and you make a face, wiping your hands on your pants. Knowing that Toriel doesn't want you to move around, you look for something to do other than the blatantly correct idea- answering your texts. 

Your phone is heavy in your pocket as you search for something else to do. The other side of the river looks greener. 

You pace across the riverbank and look for a way across. You'd still be on the side of the river, so technically it'd be in the same place. You think.

You don't really know much about laws and stuff.

Not too far away from you, there was a thin line of stones that were far enough out of the water that the river rushed around and not over them. Those could work. You walk over to them before carefully placing a foot on one rock, and then another, and then another. Before you know it, you're in the middle of the river and getting closer to the other shore with every step you take. You're so close to the other side, but then your phone rings. You jump, realize that that had been a bad idea halfway through, plant one foot on the rock when you land, and and the other slips off and you land on your butt, the water flowing around your neck.

The water is really cold. Trying to to sit up helps, but you're already even wetter than you had already been. You try to climb back up on the rock, but slide down off of the slick algae. Huffing, you wade over to the riverbank, crawling up the mud lining the side.

Once standing, you shake yourself of. Brown hair slaps you in the face and sticks fast to your cheeks, so you brush it off. Taking off your jacket and sweater, you wring them out in a futile attempt to dry them. You place a hand on a nearby tree and take off one boot, dump out the water, and then the other. A surprising amount come out, creating a small puddle beneath the tree. 

Perhaps crossing the river had been a bad idea, but you couldn't go back and repeat it. Or could you? You think about loading your last save for a few moments before deciding against it. It'd be too much effort.

With nothing else to do, you finally check your phone. You try to turn it on, but all it shows is static. Funny, you could have sworn that the phone was waterproof. Apparently not.

You wonder where Sans is, and the little voice inside your head whispers, **Maybe he’s not coming**.

You don't really like thinking thoughts like that, so you imagine yourself squishing those thoughts down deep inside of you where you can't hear them. It works, for the moment.  
One time, when you were younger, you had been looking through leaves by a pond and had found a newt. Maybe if you looked really hard you could find another in the pile of leaves on the riverbank?  
You hang your jacket and backpack up on a tree branch to dry and push your sweater’s soggy sleeves to your elbows before crouching on the edge of the leaf pile and poking it with a stick. Once you determine that nothing would come jumping out, you begin to carefully flip over brown, rotting leaves one by one. It’s pretty easy work, except for when a leaf is stuck fast to the mud and you have to pull it free with a kinda gross squelching noise. But there are no newts. **Newt yet** , the voice in your head supplies gleefully. It seems to like giving you puns.

You slowly work your way across the pile of leaves, pulling your feet from the mud every few seconds in order to shuffle forward another step. Soon enough, you tire of turning over leaves in boring lines and begin making patterns. Six still-red leaves make a smiley face, and a lot of rotten brown leaves make a misshapen Delta Rune.

You stand up, stretching your aching knees and Sans’ voice drawls out from behind you. “That’s a, uh, really cool picture, but it’s a bit _rune_ d.” 

You squeak in surprise before spinning around and launching yourself square into his jacket-covered chest. He grunts in surprise and staggers back a step or two before reaching his arms around you. “Hey kiddo. You scared us when you ran off.”

You don't respond, instead focusing on the most important thing: climbing him. Sans obligingly helps you clamber over his head and onto his back, his fluffy hood tickling your face. 

“Ready to go back to the camp?” Sans asks as you place your feet on the tops of his pelvis.  
You reach an arm out in front of him and tap your thumb and two fingers together in a _no_ position. 

His ribs expand and contract in a sigh of, “We really should be getting back, Toriel was _goat_ ting very worried after you didn't return her calls.” 

Tugging on his hood, you sign _bag_ at him. 

“What bag?” Sans asks, and you point at yourself before quickly describing what it looked like. “Where is this bag that you were looking for?” You tell him where you left it. 

“I really don't want to have to work, but you are obviously rather determined… let's just get this over with quickly.” 

You point Sans’ head towards where you think that your bag is and he takes two steps forward in that direction, pauses, shrugs, and turns the other way.

You squawk in outrage and drum your hands against his skull gently (but still in an angry way). You close your eyes before you confront him, but then you feel a sickening tug in your gut and a feeling of _wrongness_. 

“Keep your eyes shut kiddo, it'll only be for a couple more seconds,” Sans says, his low voice echoing. There's a snap that you can't hear, but you can feel reverberating through your soul, and then the wrongness goes away and you cautiously open an eye to somewhere completely different. Both eyes fly open and, in your shock, you forget to hold onto Sans’ shoulder bones and fall off, landing on the ground with a dull thud. Sans turns around, a blue drop of sweat rolling down his temple, and you gape up at him. 

“I’ve been using too many shortcuts,” mutters Sans. “Is this the right place?”

You take a look around. There’s the path that you walked on when you were hiking up Mount Ebott. It’s a bit more overrun than it had been when you were here last, but it’s absolutely the right place. You nod at Sans, and start following the worn trail, hopping over roots and branches.

You pass a clearing filled with bright yellow flowers that strongly remind you of Flowey. You shiver, and run until they’re out of sight. The brambles are back, rearing up on the sides of the trail, a few grabbing at your hair and you can hear Sans mutter a curse. Looking back, you see that his hood is snared in one’s thorny grasp. You help him extract his hood, but then you carry on. Just like you always do. 

The path narrows, and the blackberries loom higher and higher, but then you see your bag, tucked between a branch and a nest of blackberry tendrils that you remember painstakingly plucking bare of all thorns that could hurt your bag. You get as close to the blackberries as is possible without pricking yourself and carefully try to reach over the unplucked vines to get your bag. Your fingers graze the surface, but you can’t drag it over to yourself. You furrow your brows and huff out a short breath of air before trying again, inching a bit closer. You slightly indent the fabric. You get so close to the blackberries that you can feel the sharp prick of its thorns, and this time when you reach for the bag, you push it back.

You scream on the inside, and a little bit on the outside, too. Sans laughs behind you and you inhale, and exhale before shoving your hands deep into the thicket. You shove your way into the vines, thorns scratching your face, before grabbing the bag and exiting, face stinging.

Sans isn't laughing when you turn around and smile at him. His eyesockets have gone black, and his smile is wider than usual ( **strained** , your inner voice says).

“Was that bag really all that it was _scratched_ up to be?” He asks. You nod, clutching your prize to your chest. Sans ambles over and examines you, his ‘pupils’ back. He scoops you up again, mutters, “Close your eyes,” and you obey. The sense of wrongness returns, but it's over quicker this time and Sans gently sets you down before you're picked up in a warm pair of arms.

Toriel’s crying and you don't really understand why, but the random feelings that seem almost too distant to actually be yours are wailing **sorrymomsorrymomsorrymom** and usually they don't influence you that much but right now you feel tears that aren’t your own pricking at your eyes and your hands involuntarily fist in her rough, woolen dress. You sniffle and Toriel’s arms tighten around you and then Sans clears his throat. Toriel makes an almost inaudible noise deep in her throat that's probably a growl before loosening her grasp, stubby claws brushing your skin. You try to look at Sans and fail, so you climb over Toriel and sit on her shoulders, holding on to her horns. Sans looks up at you and winks before walking off past you and Toriel.  
Toriel’s ear twitches next to your arm and you push the voice apologising in your head far away as Toriel places a steadying paw onto your leg and carries you into the camp, where various monsters are milling about.

One spots you and calls out, “The human is back!” and monsters of all shapes and sizes cluster around you. This is way too much attention than you had expected or wanted, and you press yourself as close to Toriel as was possible. Toriel notices and briskly tells all of the crowding monsters to leave. Obediently, they leave and you relax back a little bit. Finally, the two of you reach Toriel’s bedroll and she reaches up and sets you down. 

“My child, why did you leave?” Toriel asks, settling down in front of you with a heavy sigh. You fiddle with the homeknit blanket on top of her mat before telling her that you just really wanted your bag back. Your eyes are burning again, but this time the tears are actually yours. You don’t understand why Toriel was upset with you. You peek up at her for a second before seeing that her eyes are shinier than usual. You look back down. Toriel reaches for your bag and you flinch back and Toriel withdraws her hand. Swallowing, you untangle the straps from your shoulders and pass it to her. As you pick at the knitting on the blanket, you hear her open the bag’s buttons, one at a time. She rustles around the bag, and you can tell what each thing is by the way it sounds when she pulls it out and sets it back in your bag. There’s your empty bandage box, there’s a pen you found in your human father’s car once. You count off your breaths. One, two, three, four…

“May I ask why you didn’t wait until the morning, when I could have helped you search?” Toriel says, buttoning your bag back shut and gently placing it on your lap. You clutch it tightly, looping your fingers through its strap over and over before telling her that you left because you wanted to. Something tells you that she wouldn't like your answer and you shrink down into your sweatshirt.

Toriel is about to say something, but then you smell fish and Undyne throws you up high into the air before catching you. “Where were you? That was super gutsy of you just disappearing on us like that! Very brave! But you shouldn't have!” Her voice is very loud, but you're snapped (well, thrown) out of your earlier funk and you tug on her ear fin before showing her the bag that you had somehow kept your hold on. Undyne obligingly gasps, flaring her fins in mock shock and you giggle. Over one of her shoulders, you see Alphys nervously wringing her hands in the presence of the former queen. Toriel says something behind you and Undyne nods. 

“Okay punk! You and me and Alphys are gonna go get you all cleaned up! And you're gonna enjoy it,” Undyne says, spinning around and marching towards her tent. You stare at Toriel over her shoulder and wave. She raises a hand back and you smile, sinking your face into Undyne’s shoulder as she carries you away. You can feel Undyne’s voice rumbling through her body and you yawn, sleep tugging at your eyelids and slowing your thoughts. Clutching your bag close to your chest with one hand, you wind the other around Undyne's neck in a one-armed hug. You match your breathing to hers, tiredly watching her gills fluttering in time to her exhalations.  
Undyne sets you down gently on the ground where you had been sleeping, and rummages around her bag.

Undyne pulls out a sealed bowl of spaghetti and a fork and pushes the fork into your hands. It takes a second for you to register that you had a fork, but once you do you slowly eat the spaghetti. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you distantly register Undyne pushing up your pant legs. She places a cool substance on the scratches covering your legs and you close your eyes. You snap them open, suddenly awake again as your head starts falling forwards into your food. Shaking your head, you try really hard to stay awake and eat your food, but Undyne notices your troubles and laughs, taking away your food and laying you down. Alphys (you hadn't even noticed her from her spot behind you) sets a blanket over you and it only takes a few moments for you to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! I decided to expand the last chapter into a series of one-shots. This one takes place directly after Chapter One.  
> Thank you so much for reading, and feel free to ask any questions or leave a comment!
> 
> Edit: a little bit of explanation for Toriel's confusion about maple trees and moss. My personal theory is that monsters have been trapped in the Underground for about a thousand years, and that while their language has changed some due to human trash falling down, it isn't completely modern and words for many surface plants and animals have became archaic. Hope that clears up any confusion!

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfiction that I've written in a few years, and I'm very rusty. Feedback and critique would be fantastic, if you have the time. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope that you enjoyed!


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